How Happy Is Happy Enough?

If the self-help section of your local bookstore has anything to say about it, there's a lot you can do to be happier. There's the scientific approach, the Dalai Lama's guide, even a happiness hypothesis. But is there such a thing as too happy? A new study published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science suggests that ultimate bliss may not be the ultimate good.

A team of researchers from three universities examined data from the World Values Survey along with the behaviors of 193 volunteers and found that the happiest people weren't necessarily the best off. The metric for this...